Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-15283

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 8 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many civil servants are currently working on the Building a New Scotland series, given as a (a) headcount and (b) FTE staff figure.

Work to develop the prospectus is drawing on a range of officials across the organisation who will contribute to varying extents as part of their wider responsibilities in supporting the Scottish Government. The exact number of officials contributing as part of their wider responsibilities is not known as the Scottish Government has no need to record this information.

The Constitutional Futures Division coordinates work on the Building a New Scotland series. As of 22 February 2023, it comprises 24 civil servants, including one Deputy Director. This equates to 23.3 FTE .

Question reference: S6W-15284

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 8 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has stopped all planning, and dropped any assumption, regarding an independence referendum taking place in October 2023.

The Scottish Government accepts the Supreme Court’s judgment as to whether the Scottish Parliament has the power to legislate for an independence referendum without a Section 30 order.

There is however a democratic mandate for an independence referendum, and we stand ready to engage with the UK Government to give the Scottish people the right to choose their constitutional future in line with the result of the 2021 Scottish Parliament election which resulted in a clear majority in the Parliament in favour for a referendum.

Given the legislative and other arrangements that would be necessary, the Scottish Government is not planning for a referendum in October of this year.

Question reference: S6W-15330

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 8 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of the datasets that are published within the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture portfolio, and what the frequency of publication of each is.

The Scottish Government published the following datasets within the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture portfolio in the last 12 months:

Publication title	Frequency of publication	Last published	Link
Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland: statistics	Monthly	February 2023	https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-statistics-february-2023/ https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-statistics-january-2023/ https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-statistics-december-2022/ https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-statistics-november-2022/ https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-statistics-october-2022/ https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-statistics/
Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland: expressions of interest data reconciliation exercise	Ad-hoc one off publication	February 2023	https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-expressions-of-interest-data-reconciliation-exercise-february-2023/
The Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands IndexSM – Scotland	Every 2 years	February 2023	https://www.gov.scot/publications/anholt-ipsos-nation-brands-indexsm-2022-report-scotland-scottish-government-constitution-international-migration-analysis/
Local Government Candidate Diversity Survey 2022	No plans to repeat	November 2022	https://www.gov.scot/publications/local-government-candidates-survey-2022/
Scottish Social Attitudes Survey – Core module Attitudes to Scottish Government and Parliament	Every 2 years	October 2022 (Survey data 2021/22)	https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-social-attitudes-2021-22/
Scottish Household Survey : Culture and Heritage	Annually	February 2022	https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-household-survey-2020-telephone-survey-culture-heritage-report/pages/2/
Survey of the extension of the voting franchise to prisoners	No plans to repeat	May 2023/TBC	Not published, forthcoming publication

Additionally, the Scottish Government publish a calendar of forthcoming statistical releases. The calendar can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/official-statistics-forthcoming-publications/

Question reference: S6W-15393

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 2 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-14560 by Neil Gray on 21 February 2023, how many times the Joint Assurance Review group has met since November 2022.

Question reference: S6W-15394

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 2 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-14560 by Neil Gray on 21 February 2023, who the members of the group undertaking the Joint Assurance Review are.

Question reference: S6O-01986

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has plans to extend free bus travel to everyone under the age of 26.

Question reference: S6W-15281

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 1 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people were temporarily housed on the MS Ambition on (a) 1, (b) 8 and (c) 21 February 2023.

The Scottish Government routinely publishes the latest data and information on the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland, including the number of people temporarily housed on the MS Ambition. As published on 23 February, there were around 995 guests onboard the MS Ambition as at 14 February 2023, occupying 475 cabins. The next update is expected to be published in late March.

The data are provisional management information from live operational systems and are subject to change. The number of displaced people from Ukraine in welcome accommodation on M/S Ambition is reported directly by operational teams.

The published tables and accompanying methodology notes for the February publication can be found here: Supporting documents - Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland: statistics - February 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Question reference: S6W-15282

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 1 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many cabins were occupied on the MS Ambition on (a) 1, (b) 8 and (c) 21 February 2023.

The Scottish Government routinely publishes the latest data and information on the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland, including the number of people temporarily housed on the MS Ambition. As published on 23 February, there were around 995 guests onboard the MS Ambition as at 14 February 2023, occupying 475 cabins. The next update is expected to be published in late March.

The data are provisional management information from live operational systems and are subject to change. The number of displaced people from Ukraine in welcome accommodation on M/S Ambition is reported directly by operational teams.

The published tables and accompanying methodology notes for the February publication can be found here: Supporting documents - Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland: statistics - February 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Question reference: S6W-14806

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 23 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-14221 by Neil Gray on 31 January 2023, when it will provide an update to the Parliament on these matters.

The statistical release on Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme expressions of interest data reconciliation exercise was published by the Scottish Government on 17 February 2023: https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-expressions-of-interest-data-reconciliation-exercise-february-2023/ . This is a one-time ad-hoc release of management information and does not constitute an Official Statistics or National Statistics release.

Question reference: S6W-14804

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 22 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-14221 by Neil Gray on 31 January 2023, whether it will provide an update on the launch of its Offers of Accommodation scheme.

The Offers of Accommodation scheme set out to replace the previous two-stage Expression of Interest process which enabled potential hosts to submit information about their properties, with a streamlined, single-stage online form, designed on user-centred principles and built by the Scottish Government’s Digital teams. The new Offer to Host form can be found at Offer to host - Start page (ukrainehostoffers.service.gov.scot) The form went live, initially for a limited trial, on 22 November and was promoted through a news announcement, social media and a distribution of a partner toolkit. Since the form went live, it has had 442 completed submissions as of 14 February, which are now being checked by Local Authorities and fed back to Matching teams.

The Offers of Accommodation form now feeds in directly to the Warm Scottish Welcome Matching Tool used by the National Matching Service since September 2022. This digital tool was designed by Scottish Government Digital teams, in collaboration with COSLA and Scottish Government operational officials, to facilitate the matching of Ukrainian Displaced People in Welcome Hub accommodation to longer term hosting and social housing opportunities across Scotland.

The Matching Tool is currently being rolled out to a small selection of Local Authorities, with the ambition of all 32 Local Authorities being invited to have access to the platform over the course of the coming months. Ahead of the wider roll-out, staff at all Scottish Local Authorities have been invited to begin necessary background checks on 17 February.

Chamber and committees